Yeah if you have a lot of picks or your normal amount then why not trade up or stay put and pick where your original pick is at, but if you're in our position and only have 3 picks and your 2nd pick isn't all the way until the 5th round then I'd like to give my scouts 2 chances to try and find a gem in that 2nd/3rd round range instead of trying to just hit on that 1 with the 28th pick. Say we trade back to like 35 and get another pick in the 50s do you really think we're gonna miss out on a player within those 8 picks that'll be better than the players we could get at 35 and 50 something? Get a chance to draft 2 top 6 players or top 4 D man over 1. Also in the later rounds from like 5-7 you might as well trade back as many times as you can to get as many picks as you can get to let your scouts really try to find hidden gems in leagues/places many scouts might not scout as well. Unless someone very talented and projected earlier drops and you want to take that swing on them.
For me, it is about maximizing the value of the draft and getting as many picks in surplus parts of the draft as possible. In this draft, 28 does not vary a lot between our pick and a pick that is ~10 spots lower, so trading down makes the most sense. However, if someone unexpectedly falls, then that is another question.
At the same time, if the draft sucks where we would get another pick, then it may make more sense to just keep the pick. In this draft, however, trading down could put us in a prime range for one of the secondary goalie prospects, or we could possibly even draft one of the better ones with our lower pick. There are also some solid center and defensive prospects available in the top 75.
